2022 Silly Season
- Thread starter ddrap14
- Start date
While that is true, there is no certainty that this is the reason for ending their sponsorship. There are a dozen possible reasons for it.
OH... does MARS have a new CEO?
That's what happened with Sprint & Target, they didn't like racing and pulled any sponsorship deals.
That's what happened with Sprint & Target, they didn't like racing and pulled any sponsorship deals.
Or rather, that the contract came to an end and they didn't renew it. That could be because of either MARS Inc. or JGR who might have asked for more cash than Mars were willing to stump up.
If there was a bunfight in the board room, nobody would find out about it
Isn't sponsorship there already choc-a-block?
They probably want to go with another team that has more Pedigree!
Construction Crews (and 2x Daytona 500 Champion Michael Waltrip) Break Ground on Temporary 1/4 Mile NASCAR Track Inside the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum (credit to AutoWeek):
Over the past 70 years, NASCAR has deployed its race cars to some unusual landscapes, including Soldier Field in Chicago, a minor league baseball stadium in Asheville, N.C., a combination beach-road course in Daytona Beach, Fla. and even a rodeo site in Tucson, Ariz.
February, however, presents a whole new animal.
A race host of near-biblical proportions and history. A venue that will put the NASCAR name, however oddly, on a list that contains most major sporting endeavors and more than a few iconic moments far beyond the fences and limits of mere sport.
Welcome to the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.
NASCAR has scheduled the Busch Light Clash, the annual non-points race that begins the Cup season, at the coliseum Feb. 6. On a purpose-built quarter-mile asphalt track that will circle the stadium’s football field, NASCAR’s best will compete in a facility that has hosted, to name a very few of the many big names, Bart Starr, Sandy Koufax, Carl Lewis, Lynn Swann, Billy Graham, John F. Kennedy, the Rolling Stones, Bruce Springsteen and Pope John Paul II.
“It’s one of the oldest continually operating stadiums in the country and no doubt a cultural touchstone,” said David Israel, former president of the coliseum commission. “It’s held more important events than most other places, and now NASCAR, which is kind of mind-blowing. How are they going to pull that off?”
Israel, a former sports writer who has visited most of the major sports facilities in the country, puts the coliseum on a list of sports icons that also includes Notre Dame Stadium, Fenway Park, the old Yankee Stadium, Wrigley Field and the old Madison Square Garden in New York.
“Stadiums just don’t look like that anymore,” he said. “The fact that the coliseum has endured in this time of everybody trying to make everything look the same is incredible.”
An elongated stadium that was regal in its youth and remains so, the coliseum opened in 1923 and can boast of numerous distinctions and events: Summer Olympics (1932 and 1984, and scheduled again in 2028), Super Bowl (twice), World Series (once), Southern Cal home football, Los Angeles Rams, Oakland Raiders, Los Angeles Dodgers, Billy Graham Crusade (record 134,254 attendance), concerts by the Stones, U2, the Who, Springsteen and numerous other headliners and JFK’s acceptance speech at the 1960 Democratic National Convention.
It’s almost like NASCAR was needed to complete the loop of history.
“It’s unlike any other place I’ve ever played,” said Shaun Cody, who played for four years (2001-04) at the coliseum as a tackle for Southern Cal. “I’ve played all over the country, and it’s a special place. The amount of people you can stack in there when you have a great event or a big sporting activity is just crazy.”
Cody, who played in the National Football League for Detroit and Houston, said entering the field from the huge tunnel at one end of the coliseum is an experience that can’t be duplicated.
“The first time I walked out of the tunnel there, I remember how that felt,” he said. “I thought about all the celebrities and important people who had walked out there. You feel like some kind of rock star walking out on that stage.”
As for NASCAR?
“It sounds bananas,” Cody said. “It should be a hell of a lot of fun. I’m sure it will be insane.”
Cup drivers will race under the shadow of the unique peristyle in the eastern end of the stadium. That feature holds the pedestal for the Olympic torch and includes a series of arches and the five Olympic rings.
“The stadium architecture is relevant because of the peristyle end,” Israel said. “The stadium was built because Los Angeles wanted to assert itself as a big-time city. It’s where the westward expansion of sports occurred with the USC-Notre Dame game and the Dodgers. It’s where American sports became continental with the move of the Dodgers (from Brooklyn).”
There are some questions inside and outside the sport concerning NASCAR’s ability to stage an entertaining, competitive, season-opening race with big Cup cars on a tiny, inside-a-stadium track. The Clash, after all, has been held in the wide open spaces of Daytona International Speedway since 1979.
But the novelty of the event – and the unusual, National Historic Landmark site – is expected to draw considerable attendance and possibly elevate television ratings. Plus, it doesn’t hurt that the Super Bowl – and all its attendant publicity and hoopla -- is scheduled a week later in LA (although at SoFi Stadium, not the coliseum).
SOURCE: https://www.autoweek.com/racing/nascar/a38582372/why-nascar-la-coliseum-bananas-brilliant/
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Speedway Motorsports, LLC (SMI) Completes Purchase of Dover Motorsports, Inc; Now Owns Dover and Nashville Superspeedway (credit to Racer):
Speedway Motorsports has completed its purchase of Dover Motorsports, the company announced Wednesday. The deal was completed at $3.61 per share price for all outstanding shares of Dover, effected by Speedco II, Inc, a subsidiary of Speedway Motorsports. It’s an approximate total equity value of $131.5 million.
With the acquisition, Speedway Motorsports adds Dover International Speedway and Nashville Superspeedway to its portfolio alongside eight other racetracks that currently host NASCAR events.
In all, Speedway Motorsports operates 11 racetracks through its subsidiaries: Atlanta, Bristol, Charlotte, Dover, Kentucky, Las Vegas, Nashville, New Hampshire, North Wilkesboro, Sonoma, and Texas.
“On behalf of our company I’d like to thank Dennis McGlynn and Dover Motorsports for their cooperation and support through this process,” said Speedway Motorsports president and CEO Marcus Smith. “As our acquisition becomes complete, we look forward to turning our focus toward engaging the teams at Dover and Nashville to produce exciting events for race fans in 2022.”
Dover will host the Xfinity Series on April 30, 2022, and the Cup Series race on May 1.
Nashville Superspeedway hosted its first Cup Series race in June of this year alongside the return of the Xfinity Series and Camping World Truck Series to the facility. Nashville has a four-year agreement with NASCAR, and all three series return for racing there in June 2022.
SOURCE: https://racer.com/2021/12/22/speedway-motorsports-completes-dover-purchase/
Speedway Motorsports has completed its purchase of Dover Motorsports, the company announced Wednesday. The deal was completed at $3.61 per share price for all outstanding shares of Dover, effected by Speedco II, Inc, a subsidiary of Speedway Motorsports. It’s an approximate total equity value of $131.5 million.
With the acquisition, Speedway Motorsports adds Dover International Speedway and Nashville Superspeedway to its portfolio alongside eight other racetracks that currently host NASCAR events.
In all, Speedway Motorsports operates 11 racetracks through its subsidiaries: Atlanta, Bristol, Charlotte, Dover, Kentucky, Las Vegas, Nashville, New Hampshire, North Wilkesboro, Sonoma, and Texas.
“On behalf of our company I’d like to thank Dennis McGlynn and Dover Motorsports for their cooperation and support through this process,” said Speedway Motorsports president and CEO Marcus Smith. “As our acquisition becomes complete, we look forward to turning our focus toward engaging the teams at Dover and Nashville to produce exciting events for race fans in 2022.”
Dover will host the Xfinity Series on April 30, 2022, and the Cup Series race on May 1.
Nashville Superspeedway hosted its first Cup Series race in June of this year alongside the return of the Xfinity Series and Camping World Truck Series to the facility. Nashville has a four-year agreement with NASCAR, and all three series return for racing there in June 2022.
SOURCE: https://racer.com/2021/12/22/speedway-motorsports-completes-dover-purchase/
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They re-added NWilks over the past 4 months to their list of "active" facilities.
Hence why I put airquotes on the word active
I thought you were just quoting it...Hence why I put airquotes on the word active
Airquotes?
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